STANCHART to pay $90,000 damages
Enslavement In USA: "Maid" testified of unpaid labour
Akata-Pore, Boakye Djan for NRC?
“Private sector must look beyond govt” – Prez Kufuor
Workshop on drugs control opens in Accra
STANCHART to pay $90,000 damages
Accra (Greater Accra) 28 May 2003 – In a landmark decision that is bound to reverberate through all the banks in the country, an Accra High Court has awarded damages totalling $90,000 and cost of ¢10m against Standard Chartered Bank Ghana after the court found that the bank had been negligent in some international banking transactions that it conducted in 1997.
From the facts in the judgement, a Nigeria fraudster E.O. Effiang managed to forge the signature of the Chief Executire Officer of a Nogeria Company (Victoria Island Properties Limited), and succeeded in causing a total amount of $82,000 dollars to be transacted from the company’s Swiss accounts to Standard Chartered Bank in Accra.
It appears from the judgement that the fraudster had attempted a similar transfer through International Commercial Bank. But International Commercial Bank detected that there was something wrong with the transaction and therefore returned the money to the Swiss Bank.
The then fraudster the managed to open a cedi account with the Liberia Road Branch of Standard Chartered. However, Standard Chartered failed to follow its own Operating Manual in opening that account. For instance, the bank allowed him to use a Nigerian address for both residential and correspondence purposes.
The judge stated that the Branch “glossed over that Bank’s Operating Instructions. As a result they were unable to notice the flaws in the information provided.
Subsequently, the Swiss Bank transferred, first $12,000. But the transfer instructions bore a different name from that which the fraudster had used to open the account. Standard Chartered ignored those signs and paid the money to him in cedis.
The court held that it would have been expedient for STANCHART to “make enquiry concerning the correct beneficiary in the instructions differed from that of the account holder.” Obviously emboldened by this success, the fraudster then caused a second amount of $70,000 to be transferred, not to the Liberia Road Branch but to Standard Chartered Bank’s Foreign Branch. This time, the bank paid it to the thief across the counter in dollars.
According to the court, this payment was in breach of Bank of Ghana’s regulations, the fraudster did not have a Foreign Account, and there was a “lack of care on the part of the staff to ascertain the identity of the fraudster.
The court stated the staff of the Bank “acted negligently and displayed incompetence in the manner they made payments” to the fraudster, “disregarding the Bank of Ghana’s regulations on foreign accounts and their own operational manual.” The court singled out for rebuke one Jehu-Appiah, the $70,000 across the counter and said that his conduct “amounted to negligence and gross incompetence, if not smacking of dishonesty.”
The court then gave judgement for the Nigerian Company, to recover the $82,000 as special damages, $8,000 as general damages for negligence and costs of ¢10m. It also stated that Standard Chartered was entitled to be indemnified by the Swiss Bank. Ace Anan Ankomah represented the plaintiff and Standard Chartered Bank by Dawn Zaney. - Ghanaian Times
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Enslavement In USA: "Maid" testified
of unpaid labour
Takoma Park (USA) 28 May 2003 - A Ghanaian woman has testified that a Takoma Park couple charged with enslaving her made her work around the clock seven days a week, taking care of the couple's young daughter, cooking, cleaning, doing laundry and raking leaves, and never paid her for her labour.
Fighting back tears at several points, Margaret Owusuwaah testified in federal court in Greenbelt that Barbara Coleman-Blackwell, 33, an accountant, and her husband, Kenneth Blackwell, 37, piled on so much work that she had no free time. Owusuwaah, 44, testified that she was often ordered to clean up after Blackwell vomited and had to remove Coleman-Blackwell's shoes from her feet as she reclined on a sofa or chair.
She also said that Coleman-Blackwell arranged for her to care for the children of five of her friends and kept almost all the money the friends paid for her services.
The Blackwells are on trial in U.S. District Court accused of bringing Owusuwaah to the United States illegally and enslaving her as an unpaid domestic servant. Coleman-Blackwell's mother, Grace Coleman, a former deputy finance minister of Ghana, is charged with arranging to bring Owusuwaah -- her cousin from a poor village -- to the United States under false pretences and with forced labour.
Coleman is a member of Ghana's Parliament and remains in that country; federal officials have filed papers seeking her extradition. The defendants are charged with abusing Owusuwaah from February 2000, when she came to the United States and began living with the Blackwells, until July 2001, when she ran away.
The trial began Tuesday and is expected to last two more weeks.
During more than four hours of direct testimony under questioning by Seth Rosenthal, a trial attorney with the Justice Department's civil rights division, Owusuwaah for the most part described her experience matter-of-factly, though she became emotional when describing specific incidents of mistreatment.
In their opening statements, attorneys for both defendants said Owusuwaah was not an abused domestic servant, but a family member who wanted to come to the United States. They said she voluntarily took care of the Blackwells' daughter, Kendra, who was born in 1997, and helped with household chores.
"She asked to come to the United States to help with Kendra," said Boniface K. Cobbina, Coleman-Blackwell's attorney. Testifying through a translator, Owusuwaah said Coleman arranged for her visa and told her she would be paid $150 a month for taking care of Kendra.
After working for about two months without payment, Owusuwaah testified, she asked Coleman-Blackwell for her wages. Coleman-Blackwell called her mother and handed the phone to her, Owusuwaah testified. Coleman angrily told her that if she raised the issue again, she would ask the Ghanaian embassy to whisk her back to Ghana, where she would be locked up, Owusuwaah testified.
Many times, Owusuwaah said, Coleman-Blackwell ordered her to clean up after Blackwell vomited. "When he vomits, Barbara calls me to clean. Sometimes she calls me while I'm eating, and I can't eat any more," Owusuwaah testified.
In July 2001, Owusuwaah testified, she found her passport inside the pages of a magazine in a closet and ran away to the home of a friend of Coleman-Blackwell's who had been nice to her. The Blackwell case is the third domestic slavery case that federal prosecutors have brought in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt in the past three years.
In March 2002, U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams Jr. - who is presiding over the Blackwell trial - sentenced a Silver Spring couple to nine years in prison for enslaving a teenager from Cameroon and forcing her to work for three years without pay as a babysitter and housekeeper.
In August 2000, a Gaithersburg man who kept a Brazilian
woman as a live-in slave for nearly 20 years and did nothing to stop his wife
from beating her was sentenced to 61/2 years in prison. - Washington Post
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Accra (Greater Accra) 28 May 2003 - Ben Kumbuor in a radio interview said that two more anti-PNDC/NDC dissidents are expected in Ghana any time now to support Corporal Adabuga's version of events as part of the orchestrated strategy to create an impression of credibility for the made-up stories.
From our intelligence sources, we gather that next in line to come down is Sergeant Alolga Akata-Pore, one-time member of the erstwhile PNDC Government. He is also expected to stay with Kweku Baako Jnr. during the period of his stay in Ghana.
The biggest fish of the expected arrivals, however, is Captain Boakye-Djan (Rtd), Spokesman of the defunct AFRC Government of 1979. Our information is that the ticket for his travel to Ghana has already been purchased, at the taxpayer's expense, of course, and he is expected to arrive as soon as Akata-Pore has done his bit and left.
Captain Boakye-Djan is however not expected to help the NPP
cause much as he was not part of the PNDC era but only of the AFRC era, but the
NPP Government hopes to use him to do as much damage as possible to their
number one enemy in the world, ex-President Rawlings. – Ghana Palavar
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Accra (Greater Accra) 28 May 2003 - The government has resolved not to overspend during the next election year in order not to erode the economic gains and throw the macroeconomic environment into disarray. The government will also stick to the guiding limits in its domestic borrowing as approved by Parliament.
The Minister of State in charge of Economic Planning, Dr Samuel Nii Noi Ashong, made this known at the National Economic Dialogue (NED) in Accra yesterday. The dialogue, which was first introduced two-years ago to find ways to move the country from the economic doldrums, has now become an annual affair.
This year’s NED, which was on the theme: “Building a Growing Economy Together”, brought together a wide array of representatives from the private sector, civil society, government, the academia, the diplomatic corps and Parliament to engage in broad-based discussions on important national issues.
Dr Ashong said to avoid choking the economic system; the government will make available increased credit facilities to the private sector operators to enable them to grow.
Dr Ashong said the government has released a total of ¢48bn for the upgrade of 30 selected senior secondary schools throughout the country in line with efforts to establish a model school in each district. The minister said as part of recommendations of last year’s NED, the government is rehabilitating 15 small-scale irrigation facilities in the country while 24 fish ponds have been constructed at Fuu.
He said 5,355 farmers in the Northern, Ashanti and Brong Ahafo regions have been assisted to cultivate 4,000 hectres of soya beans for export.
Dr Ashong said under a programme to provide microfinancing access to women and the excluded, a total of ¢41.9bn was disbursed to women farmers, agro-processors and traders. He announced that the government is seriously considering setting up a venture capital by the close of the year, adding that a programme to establish a branch of the police Women and Juvenile Unit (WAJU) in every district is on course.
Vitus Azeem, who presented a report on behalf of the Ghana Association of Private Voluntary Organisations in Development (GAPVOD), commended the government for implementing most of the recommendations made last year.
He said the difficulties faced during land acquisition have been simplified with the publication of information and documentation on land acquisition in the country. Azeem said, however, that the documentations are too complex for the ordinary people to comprehend while registering titles of land is still expensive and time wasting, adding that adequate consultations were not done before the implementation.
He also said most of the infrastructural problems such as roads are being solved with the construction of the Tetteh Quarshie interchange, the Tema-Sogakofe road as well as the Accra-Kumasi road. – Graphic
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Accra (Greater Accra) 28 May 2003 - The President, John Kufuor, has urged the private sector to be sensitive to both the international and local markets and not expect the government to spoon-feed it. He said although the government has resolved to lend its support to the sector, the private sector should not consider the government as its only customer.
The President was speaking at the annual review of the National Economic Dialogue (NED) in Accra yesterday, which was on the theme: Building a Growing Economy Together”.
The NED, which was instituted two years ago, brought together people from all walks of life and shades of opinion to engage in broad-based consultation on ways to move the nation forward.
The President urged the business community to plan carefully, set measurable goals and obtain technical advice from financial institutions to guarantee their success. He said the government is examining tax and business regulatory systems with the aim of streamlining them to create a more efficient and profitable business environment.
One result of such step is the waiver of duties on imported computer parts to facilitate their assembling locally to create jobs for the youth. The government is also working on removing stifling bureaucratic practices to expand the formal economic sector as well as widen the tax net to rope in the wider informal sector.
President Kufuor urged the business community to adjust to modern ways of business practices, which he said, should be law-based.
This, the President said, is necessary to avoid fraud and unfair practices in business relations and attract the attention and support of government and financial institutions.
President Kufuor announced that henceforth, micro financing will be a common feature of the economy, saying that “funds for Ghana’s poverty reduction strategies, which have been approved by the multilateral community, will be released to support small and medium-term businesses to flourish.”
He also indicated that the African Development Foundation, a US government agency, is contributing financial and technical support to a minimum of 40 small-scale and medium enterprises for five years and urged all beneficiaries of this assistance to work hard and repay the loans so that they can be recycled.
President Kufuor called on the nation to discard certain cultural practices which are time wasting and unprofitable to our day-to-day lives.
“Cultural practices such as funeral and mourning as well as extended family demands must be better managed,” he said and called on “civil servants, factory workers, farm labourers and managers in various establishments to submit to the discipline of profitable and productive time usage for the economy to grow properly.”
He again urged Ghanaians to develop the habit of saving, saying, “we should be provident in our expenditure so as to leave a margin of whatever we earn for the future of our children and our retirement”.
President Kufuor reiterated the commitment of government to accommodate and consider the advice of all and sundry for the productive development of the economy.
The Minister of Energy, Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom, in a welcoming address, said the NED is not about only on the economy. Other areas such as education, health care, energy, roads and other socio-economic issues are also covered.
He said some progress has been made in implementing last year’s recommendations and expressed the hope that the country will become a prosperous country that can attain a $1000 per capita income.
Other dignitaries at the forum included the Governor of the
Bank of Ghana, Dr Paul Acquah, Ministers of State, Parliamentarians, the
Council of State, chiefs and the diplomatic corps, opposition leaders, private
sector and civil society. – Graphic
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Kyebi (Eastern Region) 28 May 2003 – the Chiefs and people of Akyem Abuakwa Traditional Area who gathered at the Ofori Panin Fie at Kyebi to welcome Ghanaian-born Paul Boateng, MP and Chief Secretary of the British Treasury, return ed home disappointed, when the event was put off at the last hour.
Sources close to the Palace explained that Paul Boateng had been flown out of Ghana, suffering from food poisoning. No details were given, but it was learnt that he had carried the problem from Uganda, from where he had flown here.
A member of the council of State, Fred Asante, who was present at the Palace, was silent on the issue. It was learnt that Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin broke the news at about 5am in a telephone message from Accra to one of the chiefs in the Palace.
But the British Embassy in Accra has denied that Paul Boateng had been flown out of London. The official was quick to add: “It is true that he is not too well and this explains why he could not fulfil his schedule to meet the Okyehene. Paul Boateng was expected to fly back to South Africa on Tuesday as part of his mission to Africa. – Statesman
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Accra (Greater Accra) 28 May 2003 - Ex-President Rawlings may still be lingering on the national scene amidst recurring reports that he is contemplating a coup, giving weight to recent utterances of some NDC members and the man’s own body language.
“Chronicle’s” intelligence assessment indicates a solid strategy of containment by an enervated national security system that has effectively checkmated the prospect.
According to the Chronicle, last week’s bloodcurdling details of murder, drug and gold heists given by ex-PNDC hit man, James Adabuga, has drawn an interesting reaction from the former President through his spokesman, Victor Smith.
Smith is quoted as saying that many people, particularly in South Africa, know that his master, President Rawlings, is locked in the cross hairs of an alert national security whose head, known as “Francois”, is heard through his action rather than words as charactised by the numerous bungling runs of the Hamidu days.
An interview with international wire services such as Reuters and Russell among others, Rawlings is said to have “for the first time during an interview and possibly for the first time in his career held his tongue on coups”.
In another development, “Chronicle” additionally picked up from a source last Sunday that Rawlings minimum number of days he spents in London apartment is 13 weeks. However, price indications show that the rate per week is 1,300 pounds for a single room deluxe, enough to host a constituency congress of the Eastern Regional branch of the NDC, with enough to spare for salaries of the head office staff.
Meanwhile, ex-Corporal Matthew Adabuga’s testimony at the NRC has stirred many Ghanaian resident overseas and media institutions. Surprisingly, 48.2% of 782 people polled by Ghanaweb.com say they do not believe Adabuga’s story. Chronicle
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Accra (Greater Accra) 28 May 2003 - The Independent newspaper claims that it has exposed a top operative and beneficiary of the nation’s wealth under the NDC government as the likely source of recent publication in sections of the media.
The Director General of GPHA, Ben Owusu Mensah, has been at the centre of some publications over the award of a presumed $60 million contract for the construction of a Container Terminal at the Tema Harbour.
As at last week, after Independent had shuffled through wads of paper and spoken to some staff of GPHA, every thread in the plot inched towards the top NDC operative, Eddie Annan of SSNIT fame, his beef, and preferred company did not win the contract.
Meanwhile, further signals picked by the paper point to another scandal involving the same NDC man, who also doubles as the local Representative of Borskalis.
Borskalis is another foreign company that executed a
dredging contract at the Tema Harbour but duped the GPHA in the execution of
that contract through the variation of the project cost by 40 per cent upwards
resulting in GPHA terminating the contract. - Independent
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Cape Coast (Central Region) 28 May 2003 - A senior member of the P(NDC) has publicly said that his party is capable of staging a coup d´etat and will employ whatever it takes to get rid of the NPP.
Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, Deputy Campaign Manager of the NDC, made the call during Saturday’s ‘Victory 2004 symposium’ held at Cape Coast Polytechnic.
Themed “Democratic Development in Ghana, the Role of the Student”, Mr. Ankrah told the students “We are at war and if we do a coup d`etat, we would have saved the NPP but we won’t do it.”
He was also quick to add that the NPP must be removed from office by hook or crook. “They must go!” he screamed. The National Youth Organiser, Haruna Iddrisu, however called on students to join the bandwagon to chase them (NPP) “crazy”.
He revealed what may be his party’s hidden agenda that “ From Kufuor to the last minister are all jailable in future”. - The Statesman
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Accra (Greater Accra) 28 May 2003 - A three-day regional workshop on the coordination of drug reduction efforts among member countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) opened in Accra on Monday with a call on governments in the Sub-region to mobilise available resources towards drug control.
Hackman Owusu-Agyeman, Minister of The Interior, who made the call, said more resources were needed to be committed to reduce the demand for drugs as well as stem supply and its attendant problems.
In a speech read for him by his deputy, Thomas Broni, the Minister said all over the world, cutting down on demand for drugs had become an essential pillar in efforts to combat abuse and illicit trafficking. "We need to remember that so long as there is the demand for narcotic drugs, there will always be people, who will risk everything to supply drugs and satisfy their greed for money," the Minister said.
Over 40 participants are attending the workshop aimed at creating a framework of information sharing and understanding between the Regional Office of the United Nation's Office on Drugs and Crime and its national counterparts involved in the implementation of regional demand reduction projects. The workshop would also review the ECOWAS Regional Plan of Action adopted in 1998 to determine its relevance vis-à-vis current situations.
Owusu-Agyeman traced the negative impact of drug abuse and illicit trafficking on the socio-politico-economic development of countries, saying these factors underscored the government's resolve not to relent in efforts to find a solution to the problem. "It is a problem affecting the health of nations, destroying societies, causing personal and family tragedies, undermining economies of nations and corrupting democratic institutions," the Minister said.
He urged member countries to forge a common front in pooling resources and sharing information towards the common goal of freeing the Sub-region from the scourge of narcotic drugs. "Let us remember that the drug war cannot be fought and won successfully by individual countries. We have to do this collectively."
The Minister urged the participants to share their experiences and expertise in the fight against drug abuse and come out with simple and effective activities and projects to help those engaged in it to move away to other productive and socially acceptable activities.
Dr. Kofi Konadu Apraku, Minister for Regional Cooperation and NEPAD, said the psychological pain that drug abuse inflicted on individuals, families and society made it imperative to strengthen enforcement agencies to reduce the menace. He said government alone could not fight the canker and asked civil society, organisations, individuals and churches to play an active role in efforts to deal with the problem.
Dr. Apraku described efforts to adopt similar programmes in the Sub-region as a healthy development, saying the move was helpful for attempts at regional, political and economic integration.
Ms. Christaine d'Almeida, UNODC Representative, said the workshop marked a new chapter in the fight against drugs and pledged the continuous assistance of the organisation to work for the benefit of the people.
Mamadou Gueye, Director of Human Resource at the ECOWAS Secretariat, said the media, non-governmental organisations and the society in general needed to play a more proactive role to curb the menace.
GRi…/
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com